


The Call

by pistashanut



Category: Original Work
Genre: Horror, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Original Universe, POV Third Person, Pets, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25455430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pistashanut/pseuds/pistashanut
Summary: Trish took a moment from her painting project to make herself a cup of coffee at 2 AM when she thought of a wild idea. She started dialing random numbers until one number returned her call.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	The Call

TRISH WAS STAYING up all night working on her latest art commission when she thought of making herself another cup of coffee. She checked the time. It was 1:45 AM. She stood up, stretched her arms above her head, and picked up her big Hello Kitty mug from her cluttered desk. Her mug was sitting next to the cup she rinsed her brushes in and she almost drank from that cup thrice that night. She checked her mug and drained the remaining contents as she left her room. The rest of the house was dark but she could manage fine. When she passed by the living room she felt something soft brush past her leg and she saw her Shih Tzu, Allie, walking right beside her. She smiled and gave the dog a pat.

She turned on the light when she arrived in the kitchen and opened the cupboard above the toaster for the ice cream container where she keeps her instant coffee. She pulled the lid open, picked out the caramel-flavored one, and returned the container. She emptied the sachet into her mug and noticed her Shih Tzu staring at her.

“What’s up, Allie-girl?” She asked. The dog just sat, staring at her. “You’re asking me when I’ll sleep?” She moved to the water dispenser and pushed the button, hot water flowing into her mug. She yawned. “Probably tomorrow.”

She released the button and mixed the drink with her teaspoon, staring at the dark living room. She heard Allie scratching her ear. Then she had an idea.

She turned off the light in the kitchen and walked to the living room, turning on the light there before stopping at the telephone table. She scanned the directory and stopped at the business pages. Allie sauntered into the living room and stopped behind her. Trish placed the mug next to the directory and picked up the phone. Allie let out a yelp as if asking what she’s up to.

“I was thinking of ringing the phones from business establishments, that’s all.” She looked at her dog and Allie cocked her head to the side, a gesture Trish knew would mean ‘why?’ “Nothing. I was wondering if it would scare the hell out of the security guards.”

Trish dialed the first number she saw and let it ring twice then ended it. She then ran a finger and dialed the next number where her finger stopped. She let it ring twice then ended. She went on like this for the next two numbers. On the fifth number, she stopped on the number of a shop in the mall near their subdivision. She dialed it and let it ring.

She imagined the ring reverberate throughout the hollow mall at 2 AM. She giggled as she imagined the guards startled at the sound of a phone ringing and wondering who the hell would call at such an ungodly hour. The guards can’t do anything about it since the stall was closed.

_Click!_

“What the fuck?” Trish whispered, wide-eyed. With her heart racing, she listened to the other line but she heard nothing. She ended the call before her brain started to imagine sounds and held the phone to her chest. She started to pant thinking _there was a click. Someone lifted the phone off the cradle. How did that happen?_ She knew what that store was. It was a tailoring shop on the third floor of the mall. It has rolling doors. It would be impossible for anyone to lift the receiver at this hour.

She placed the phone back to its stand and closed the directory. She was about to lift her mug when the phone rang. She checked the caller ID and it was the same number she dialed last. She gulped as the ring filled the now eerily silent living room. Then she remembered her parents sleeping in their room, west of the bungalow house. She faced the music and picked up the phone.

She pressed the phone to her ear and listened. There was nothing. Just static.

Then she heard another click. But this time it sounded like someone bit on their teeth. The click sent shivers through her spine. She ended the call and placed the phone back on its cradle. She lifted her mug and the phone rang again. It was the same number.

She took her mug and lifted Allie, who was lying on the floor. She heard a click from the phone’s speaker. She froze on the second step to the bedrooms and looked at the phone. There was nothing after the click.

Then a breeze of air was heard.

“Fuck this shit, I’m out!” Trish hissed and turned off the light in the living room. She opened the door, dropped Allie, and locked the door as if she was escaping from an intruder. She took a sip of her coffee and went directly to her laptop, logged into Spotify, and played her favorite artist on full volume. She sat at the foot of her bed and calmed herself down. Allie hopped on the bed and cuddled next to her. Trish ran her hand on Allie’s soft white fur as she took in deep breaths.

Allie raised her head, her ears perked up. Trish looked at her dog. “What’s up?” She waited for any reaction from Allie but the dog was looking straight ahead to her working desk. She listened to their surroundings, beyond the songs playing from her computer, but the street was quiet. The neighbor’s dogs were not howling or barking.

Then her phone rang. Trish froze. _No way. Not even here_.

She slowly stood up and walked to the desk. Her phone stopped ringing when she picked it up. She unlocked her phone and checked the number. It says nothing but ‘Unknown Number.’ She checked on the details but there was nothing. No number, no name. Just the time: 2:10 AM. She placed her phone back to the desk.

She took another sip of coffee and almost choked when her phone rang again. She picked it up. Still the Unknown Number. She was afraid but a huge part of her screamed for answers. Who was on the other line? What was she messing up with in the middle of the night? Nevertheless, she swiped right and brought the receiver to her ear.

“Hello?” She muttered.

There was nothing on the other line.

Then Allie barked. She jumped, almost spilling her coffee on her bedroom floor. She placed the coffee on her desk, her phone still on her ear. She looked at her dog. Allie was standing at the edge of her bed on high alert, looking at the door. Trish ended the call and stepped back, away from the door, still clutching her phone. _What the hell’s going on?!_

She heard her phone ring again, but this time her music stopped and was replaced by her ringtone. She looked at the screen and it was the Unknown Number. Trish muttered a curse and swiped right. “What’s going on?!” She hissed.

There was still nothing on the other line.

Then she heard a breathing sound all over her room. Allie cowered and ran to seek refuge on Trish’s pillows, yelping. The hair on the back of Trish’s neck stood up, goosebumps covering her skin. She listened intently as she slowly stepped to her bed. Then a muffled, struggling sound was heard, with a few notes of someone saying “help! Help!”

Tears were now descending on Trish’s cheeks, mixed with cold sweat. The muffled, struggling sound reached its crescendo, adding sobs and muffled, throaty screams into it. Trish was also sobbing at this point, tossing her phone in the middle of the bed and hugging Allie. The throaty screams stopped, now replaced by a choking, gurgling sound. Trish didn’t want to imagine what the hell happened on the other line. She just wants the audio to end. She reached out for her phone and the call was still ongoing. She pressed the red button but nothing happened. She did it multiple times but it still won’t end.

The choking sound ended. Trish heard something thin and metal hit a tiled floor then the sound of someone moving a swivel chair and the sound of someone picking up a phone. Trish waited through the bated breaths heard from the other line.

“You shouldn’t have called in the first place,” said a disembodied voice.

THE NEXT DAY, when the nightmare was over, Trish found herself sleeping in an odd position in her bed. Her legs were dangling to the floor while her upper body was lying on her side on the bed. Allie was still asleep near her headboard. She loaded Google and searched for any news regarding an incident in the nearby mall, finding nothing. She rubbed her eyes, thinking it was all a nightmare. But when she dropped her hand, she saw her coffee cup on her desk. She stood up and the mug was still full. She picked up her phone from her bed and checked the recent call activities. There was no record of calls from the Unknown Number.

Her phone dinged. It was a message.

‘You are now tracked.’

**Author's Note:**

> This was a story I wrote at 2 AM and it freaked me out. But I survived the night.
> 
> Here's a song to pair up with this story: https://open.spotify.com/track/3SqAa9F4z3NFR6FRG7Hbb9si=mzMQgixPSEuS4OpUPvP_yg
> 
> Feel free to comment and give kudos! :) Also you might wanna check out my other Loki and Tom Hiddleston fics.
> 
> visit my Tumblr @ whyispistashanuttaken


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